Youth
by LSR-7
Summary: After over a year of no updates, I am back with chapter 9. This story is how Kirk, McCoy, and Spock met the FIRST time... As children.
1. Chapter 1

STAR TREK __

STAR TREK

****

YOUTH

CHAPTER 1

Ten years old Jimmy Kirk went fishing in their backyard fishing hole in Iowa with his brother Sam. It was a hot summer and so the brothers were in the shade of their old willow tree.

"Catch anything yet?" Jimmy asked his older brother.

"Nope," answered Sam.

Suddenly Jimmy's line was getting tugged at.

"My line's pulling! This gotta be a big one!" yelped Jimmy.

"Here, I'll help ya pull it in," offered Sam.

"Oh no you don't, I'm gonna pull this one in by myself," said Jimmy, who was mounting with excitement.

The line and pole kept tugging at him, but Jimmy never let go, which was a big mistake. The tip of the pole touched the water as it was getting pulled into the water, then the pole was in half way, Jimmy was already up to his hip in the water.

"Jimmy, maybe you should let this one go," Sam said nervously, watching his younger brother take another step into the pond.

"No way Sam! I'm not letting this one go, not a chance, no sir!" said Jimmy with confidence.

Jimmy was suddenly pulled underwater.

* * *

Fourteen years old Leonard McCoy watched the finishing touches to cleaning and stitching a deep cut, too deep even for machines. He watched his father, Doctor McCoy, tug the string, knot it, and then cut it off the rest of the string from his patient. His father was the old country doctor of Georgia, where he worked.

"There ya go," said Dr. McCoy and he opened the door for the patient to go out. Then he called out and said, "Remember to clean it once a day with alcohol!" Then he closed the door. Then he turned to his son and said, "Remember that even them blasted machines can't do everything."

"I know Dad," said Leonard, then added, "I'm gonna go to the pond to catch a frog. 'Cause yesterday I thought I saw a whopper of a frog."

"Okay son, but come back in time for dinner," answered the doctor.

Leonard went out of the office, greeted the nurse and went his way to the pond. When he got there he pulled his shoes off so he would be prepared to go in the water if he had to. He looked behind Cattails and rocks at the edge of the pond.

"Come on frog," he whispered under his breath. Then suddenly something big jumped out of the water. Leonard's eyes got round from surprise and he tumbled into the water.

* * *

In the red sands of hot Vulcan a single human shaped form went hiking on the dunes toward the mountains. To some people this would be a strange sight but some knew that this person came, at the very least, once a month. His name was Spock, a Vulcan, like many people who live on this world are. He always runs away from his parents, especially from his father, because he doesn't understand. He is half-human.

He reached the edge of the mountain to where a spring was. He knelt down and drank sparsely. Then he saw something move in the water.

_Nothing should be in there,_ thought twelve years old Spock with a frown.

Then he stood up and studied the glittering water. Something moved yet again. It was something he had not seen before. Then again there wasn't much water in the whole world of Vulcan so there may be somethings he doesn't know about the scarce sources of water, even though he doubted it. Then the object came toward him and grabbed his ankle, which was near to the water. He tried to pull his foot free from this beast with all his Vulcan strength. It slowly pulled him toward the water and was able to make Spock fall back so he was easier to pull into the water. Spock grabbed a knife from his desert garb and was just about to attack it when it pulled him under the water. 

****

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Hi! I'm new at this and this would be the second thing I've posted up. I wrote this a bit ago and I would really appreciate some feedback. I tried to get their ages correct according to each other. I just want to see how this is received. I will continue updating this fic and my other called "Contact with Wolves" in ST: The Next Generation if I receive at least three(3) reviews each. I'm not asking for much! 

Flames, encouragement, etc. appreciated. 

That's it for now. Enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 2

Three unconscious forms lay scattered away from each other by ten feet, forming an equilateral triangle in a large clearing. They were on an unidentifiable land with strange trees on it, a forest.

One woke up first; this one had pointed ears, Spock. He felt dizzy and kept his eyes closed for a moment longer. Then he opened his eyes. He looked around him and saw that he was in a clearing with something similar to moss covering the ground. Then he looked to his side and saw a human boy and he saw another boy in front of him that was a little older than the first one, both of them were still unconscious. He studied them and saw differences, one had brown hair and the other had a blond and brown sandy texture. Both were white with a slight pink, similar to himself except that he has a slight green tinge because of his blood color, which is green. Then one of the humans moved, it was the one with brown hair._ This should be interesting,_ thought Spock.

"AAHHHH!" Leonard yelled. He was in a totally alien place with two other people there. He got up and backed up against a tree. He just stared at the other person who was awake, and the person stared right back at him. Finally he was able to speak and said, "Who are you?"

"I am Spock," answered the person.

_Now that's a strange name,_ thought Leonard, _wait a minute, he has pointed ears… He's a Vulcan!_

"You're a Vulcan, aren't you?" asked Leonard.

"Yes," said Spock.

"Ooh, boy. Here I am in the middle of nowhere with a Vulcan kid," Spock lifted an eyebrow at that, "and an unconscious boy… A boy?" Leonard finally noticed the other person who was there. He walked over to the boy and knelt down beside him. 

"Do you know him?" asked Spock.

"No," answered Leonard.

Leonard shook the boy to wake up, whom he knew from his face was that he was almost the same age as himself. The boy blinked his eyes and then closed them again.

_This has got to be a dream,_ thought Jimmy. When he had opened his eyes he thought he had seen an older boy looking down at him. He knew it wasn't his brother. He felt getting shaken again and knew it was real. He bolted up and looked around and saw nothing but trees… and a Vulcan who was walking toward him and the brown haired boy beside him.

"Who are you guys?" asked Jimmy.

"I am Spock," answered the Vulcan.

"I'm Leonard McCoy. Who are you?" asked the boy with brown hair.

"I'm Jimmy Kirk," answered Jimmy, then he asked, "Where are we?"

"I don't know," said Leonard.

"I suggest that we move from this area and go into the woods," said Spock.

"Why should I trust you?" said Leonard suspiciously, "for all I know is that you brought us here, or that both of you are planning together."

_These humans are always jumping to conclusions, totally illogical,_ thought Spock.

"Hey, hey, hey!" yelled Jimmy, "I have no idea how I got here either, but I have no proof that you or you," he turned to look at Spock and continued, "brought me here. So I'm not going to blame anyone."

_Well, not all humans are illogical, _thought Spock.

"All right, all right," said Leonard, "how old are you anyways?" he asked with his southern accent.

"I'm ten," answered Jimmy.

"Ya know you're either smarter than me or just been talking without even knowin' it," exclaimed Leonard.

"Oh ya, how old are you?" asked Jimmy.

"I'm fourteen," responded Leonard.

Both Jimmy and Leonard looked at Spock expectantly. Spock just stared at them.

"AHEM," coughed Leonard.

Spock rose an eyebrow.

"How old are you?" asked Jimmy, after they got no answer from staring at him.

"I am twelve Standard years old," answered Spock, "as I said before, we should leave this area."

"And why's that?" asked Leonard. 

"Because there maybe fauna that may attack…" started Spock when a beast came charging as if on que.

"Into the woods!" yelled Jimmy.

"Whatever ya say!" agreed Leonard, who was running after Jimmy.

Spock was the only one who stayed behind with the beast.

Jimmy climbed up what he thought looked like a fairly strong tree and Leonard followed suit. They still could see Spock, who was still in the open area with the beast circling around him. They could see the beast clearly now, it had broken six inch jagged fangs, a mouth that could probably be able to fit two whole watermelons with room to spare. Its body was lean and masculine, seven feet long from chest to tail base. The tail was at least five feet long with razor sharp thorn-looking things at the end that you could tell, just by looking at it, that it could cut you in twenty pieces in three seconds flat, and the beast seemed to know it too. It had fairly long legs with wicked claws all over it, especially where the main claws were, they were longer than the other claws and dug deep into the ground. It looked like a mutated jungle cat that was light purple.

"It's the tiger from hell," whispered Leonard, Jimmy nodded. "Spock! Get away from it while you still can!" yelled Leonard. But Spock didn't seem to listen to him; he just concentrated on the animal. Then he lunged at the animal. Both Leonard and Jimmy couldn't believe it. They stared wide-eyed. Then the animal collapsed. Their already wide eyes widened even more. They scrambled down the tree and went to Spock, who got up and brushed himself off.

"How'd ya do that?" asked Leonard, still wide-eyed.

"What did you do to it?" asked Jimmy, like Leonard, he too had his eyes still opened wide.

"I pinched it, know if you don't mind I believe we should hurry from this area," said Spock as he walked.

"Why?" asked both Jimmy and Leonard in unison.

"Because it is only unconscious," replied Spock.

Jimmy and Leonard remained silent and ran after Spock.

****

Author's Notes

I'm rather happy that a few people are actually reading my fanfic. I have received three(3) reviews, two that are under reviews and one by e-mail. I hope you enjoyed this. I will post up the third chapter after I receive at least two more reviews, either by e-mail or on the site.

Thank you!

-Lea aka LSR_7

PS--Am I supposed to stick on disclaimers? A lot of authors do that. But it's rather obvious that I don't own Star Trek, not making money off of this fanfic, so don't sue me!


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 3

"You pinched it?!" yelled Leonard while he was huffing from running.

"Yes, I had done the Vulcan Nerve Pinch," answered Spock who was still not breaking a sweat of getting tired.

"Whoa, wait up!" exclaimed Jimmy who was not used to flat out running for two miles. His knees buckled and gave way as he fell forward. He lay there breathing heavily. Leonard went back to pick him up and lean him up against tree.

"Don't you think that we're far enough away?" asked Leonard, who was still huffing and puffing.

"No, we are still not far enough," answered Spock who was ready to run again but saw that his two human companions couldn't keep running like this. He walked over to them and sighed internally and said, "You do know that we will have to sleep in the trees?" They stared at the trees.

"Luckily, I've slept in trees before," said Jimmy.

"I do not believe in luck," said Spock, "although it is fortunate that you have such experience. Because I do not know how to climb or sleep in a tree."

"Why?" asked Jimmy.

"Because on Vulcan there are no trees."

"What do you mean there aren't any trees in Vulcan?" asked Leonard.

"Technically there are trees, but none upon which you can climb on," answered Spock.

"Well, you're going to have to learn how to climb a tree," said Jimmy. "Good thing there's a lot of trees with branches way low to the ground," he added.

"If we are to be safer from the beast, assuming it could climb, we should climb trees that are tall and do not have low branches," concluded Spock.

"Well, you're gonna hafta learn climbing branches first," said Leonard, eyeing Spock's slender body. "I suppose that you do a lot of travelin'."

"I have," said Spock.

"Well, let's start practicing. It's like climbing ladders, if there's a lot of branches like this," he pointed at a tree with many branches, "but if there's big gaps you have to find notches and rough spots to cling on to." Jimmy demonstrated by climbing on one such tree.

"You just shimmy up 'em," added Leonard.

Spock studied Jimmy while he climbed the tree higher and higher, until he got to the most furthest to the top while being on the edge of safe.

Spock chose a tree with a few gaps between each branch to practice on.

"I think he's got the hang of it," whispered Leonard to Jimmy as they watched Spock go higher up the tree.

"Why don't you try climbing this tree now." Jimmy indicated a tree with no branches at the bottom. Spock slid down the tree and stopped at each branch, then he got to the ground. He walked over to the tree Jimmy was pointing at and climbed that one with ease.

"I guess you got it now," said Leonard. 

* * *

The three of them had gathered a lot of dead brush and branches for a fire when night fell. Spock started the fire with a piece of flint and steel he kept in his pockets for whenever he ran away from home. There were plenty of berries around but they didn't dare eat one because of the risk it might be poisonous. 

It became night and the air cooled down. The blaze and crackle of the fire had a hypnotic effect combined with the eternal chirping of alien insects. Spock decided this moment to meditate. He stared at the continuous flickering of the campfire. This was also the time Leonard thought he should start up a conversation.

"So how is it on a red hell-like orb you call a planet?" asked Leonard easily.

Spock ignored the question, which made Leonard ready to lecture the Vulcan on how it was rude to ignore queries. Jimmy saw it coming and, before Leonard could say anything, he asked Leonard, "So, what does your dad work as?"

This diverted Leonard's attention from Spock, who silently gave gratitude to young Kirk.

"My father's a doctor," answered Leonard with pride. "He fixes patients up traditionally and I'm gonna be a doctor, too, when I'm old enough. How about you?"

"Well, my dad's in Starfleet and he's on a mission right now. When I'm seventeen I'm going to join Starfleet Academy and become a captain of a starship and explore unknown space," Jimmy beamed at the thought. "What interests you, Spock?"

Spock looked up from the fire and studied the two humans. Finally he spoke.

"I would want to be a scientist."

Jimmy and Leonard looked at Spock and accepted that. Spock had a solemn look to him; no smiles came from Spock at the prospect of achieving that dream, as the other two had.

"What does your dad do?"

"He's a diplomat."

"I don't suppose you talk more than one sentence at a time, do you?" asked Leonard.

Spock ignored the question.

"What does your mother do?" asked Jimmy.

"She is a teacher and a student of an Adept," replied Spock.

"What's an Adept?" asked Leonard.

"Those who can speak to the Katras of Vulcans who have passed."

"What's a Katra?"

"A Katra is the essence of our being, all the knowledge and experience of a person, a soul, if you will."

"You're pullin' my leg!" exclaimed Leonard.

"I am not aware of such action. Perhaps you are hallucinating and need some rest to ease your fatigue and make your legs feel better. I assure you, I have not extended my arm to grasp you leg. What purpose would it serve?"

Jimmy started laughing and Leonard shook his head and said, "It was an idiom, for 'are you joking?'"

"I do not 'joke,' as you put it," said Spock seriously.

Leonard and Jimmy dropped off to sleep after they sluggishly climbed into trees. Spock remained by the fire transfixed by the dying flames, thinking of the strange aliens who called themselves humans. He then thought of his own mother, a human who cared for him and who would have brought him up as a human had he not proclaimed himself to be a Vulcan at the age of six.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 4

The next day they woke up hungry and thirsty. Leonard and Jimmy's last meal was lunch the day before, Spock's was dinner the day before yesterday.

Since they didn't know if the berries and fruit around them were poisonous or not so they went to look for water. 

"There has to be water here somewhere for all these plants to grow," said Jimmy.

The trio was walking away from the site of the animal Spock had rendered unconscious yesterday to further the distance and to search for water.

After an hour of searching Leonard and Jimmy were ready to give up and rest when Spock closed his eyes and knitted his eyebrows together in concentration and then snapped his eyes open, composed his face as if he hadn't drawn his eyebrows together and started walking again.

"Hey Spock! Let's give it a rest," Jimmy yelled.

"Did you find something?" asked Leonard.

"Can you not hear the water?" asked Spock in return.

"What do you mean?"

"Come follow me."

Leonard and Jimmy sighed and got up and caught up with Spock who was leading them to a clearing and up ahead one hundred meters they saw a twinkling silver thread going across the center of the clearing and the ends disappearing on either end into the forest.

"Water!" yelled Leonard.

Jimmy and Leonard were about to run into the clearing when Spock said, "We must stay near the trees."

"Why?" asked Jim, "C'mon, we found water."

"We do not want to expose ourselves to danger, stay near the trees, we shall get there in good time."

Leonard and Jimmy saw the logic in this so they followed Spock's directions.

Just like Spock said, they got to the stream in good time. Spock could not believe that Jimmy and Leonard couldn't hear the stream flowing till they were much closer, thus Spock concluded Terrans must have weak hearing.

Leonard and Jimmy rushed to the stream and started drinking the clean water, Spock watched to make sure the surrounding area was safe. 

After a while Jimmy and Leonard started splashing water at each other and laughed. Spock was concerned by this for on Vulcan water was a precious resource so he had never observed a water fight before. Leonard and Jimmy had a momentary truce to remove their shirts and jeans pants, placed them on a bush. They then jumped into the stream and continued their water fight.

"C'mon Spock, joi-," started Jimmy until he received a mouth full of water from Leonard.

Spock was concerned at first when Jimmy coughed and sputtered, but when he smiled and slapped some water back at Leonard he saw that Jimmy was all right and they were just playing, intending no harm to each other. He declined Jimmy's offer and went to the northern end of the stream to drink clean water that had not been disturbed by the swimming and playing of the two humans.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 5

After an hour of playing in the stream, Jimmy and Leonard were exhausted and were lying on the banks to dry. Spock had not indulged himself by playing in the water, he had refused the offer several times. They now have plenty of water and will not have to worry about it as long as they stay near the stream. Spock had thought it irrational of the humans to consume their energy playing when they had not secured food yet. 

Jimmy and Leonard were dried from the sun. Their skin reddened from the sun and playing in the water. A sunburn was inevitable.

"Ouch! My skin hurts!" complained Leonard as he gingerly put on his clothes.

Jimmy also walked stiffly to the bush to get change into his clothing as well. Although he had some discomfort he had spent a lot of his time outside and so had a slight tan to protect his skin a little better than Leonard who stays inside the hospital with his dad when not in school. 

_After their initial discomfort, they should be getting more melanin in their skin cells fairly soon, _mused Spock. His thoughts were interrupted by a yelp.

"What the _HELL_ is _that_ thing?!" shouted Leonard as he and Jimmy jumped back from the bush.

Spock snapped his head towards the bush that Jimmy and Leonard were backing away from and spotted… an alligator? It wasn't really an alligator of course, at least not a Terran alligator. Like the purple jungle cat, this too was a twisted parody of an Earth animal. Instead of the murky black-green of Earth's alligators this one was almost a sky blue. The sky blue would help in camouflaging itself in the clear water as the murky black-green would for an alligator in the muddy swamp. Although this animal had impressive claws, three on each webbed foot, it's gleaming teeth were what attracted all their attention. 

They all were shaped in wicked curves with the shortest tooth being four inches long and the longest being six inches. They were scissored (Author's Note: I picked this word up from different ways dog's teeth are described, scissored look like when you interlace your fingers together. It is not a favorable trait for Saint Bernards :-). It had an eternal grin on its three feet long jaws. It's three cold eyes (AN: I'm using three a lot aren't I?) were very disconcerting since it seemed to stare into your eyes with death and one boring into your forehead. It had a slight dorsal fin on it's elongated back and instead of an alligator's tail it looked like a webbed shark tail. It looked very fleshy and slimy.

As it approached the human boys, Jimmy and Leonard seemed ready to spring to the side as it seemed to be trying to herd them into the water where it can be most fatal as it's six stubby legs can't maneuver it well on land. Suddenly it seemed to focus all three eyes onto Leonard, which made him freeze in a frightened stupor.

"Leonard! RUN!" shouted Jimmy. He was getting frantic and was ready to jump at Leonard to get him moving. Spock sensed this and before Jimmy could do something rash Spock said, "Stay where you are, any sudden movement could put you at more danger."

Jimmy seemed ready to protest, but never got to say anything because the monster of an alligator decided right then to lunge at Leonard. Leonard let out a scream, which was cut short by a splash as the alligator thing had toppled him into the stream. He sputtered shortly after, but the alligator took a grab at his leg and pulled him under with a lot of thrashing.

"We gotta save him!" cried Jimmy. He was horrified and ran to the edge of the stream. They had disappeared under the surface, but then Jimmy thought he had spotted some light red intermingle with the water. His heart stopped. He paled and looked to Spock, "Do something! Like you did with that wildcat!"

Spock looked at the young Kirk and seemed to come to a decision. He stripped off his desert garb, which was a robe-like top and pants, which left him in his underpants. He quickly assessed the surroundings of the stream and spotted a sturdy stick. He grabbed it and broke the end to make it sharp in a splintery way. He would not kill the beast if he could help it, but if necessary he would wound it. As he was jumping into the water he took note of where the shadowy figures were with his sharp eyesight. He then plunged into the cold water. 

To humans the water was just cool, but to a Vulcan it was cold. Cold enough to get a cold from if not dried and warmed up soon after.

He spotted Leonard and the monster as precious air escaped Leonard's mouth in bubbles as the monster slowly drowned him. Spock was upon them and wrenched the jaws open from its hold on Leonard's leg. He drifted to the surface face down. 

Spock was busy wrestling with the 'gator and so didn't notice Jimmy splashing through the water to pull Leonard to shore. Spock got on the 'gator's back and got his right hand to latch onto the neck. It lashed its tail and caught Spock on the back, drawing green blood. Spock cringed as there was no one to see him and broke it's neck. The body jerked once then was still. He was about to let go, but a thought occurred to him and he brought it to shore instead. He tried not to wince as he moved. The wound on his back caused him pain everytime he moved his arms or back.

Jimmy wasn't paying much attention to Spock, as he was busy calling Leonard's name and making sure that he didn't have water in his lungs. Blood was pooled around Leonard's right leg. The sight of red blood soaked pants and the big puncture marks almost made Spock nauseous. Almost.

Spock hurried over, dropping the alligator like a forgotten toy. He knelt down and looked over Leonard. Leonard had a drawn look on his pasty face, his mop of wet hair flung back and plastered to his head. Jimmy looked up with a silent plea. Spock looked at the immediate problem of blood loss on Leonard. He got up and rushed to his dropped clothing and rummaged through the pockets and produced his knife. He came back and cut away the part of the pant leg that was around the wound making it be cut off at mid thigh. He then cut the pant leg into strips and rinsed them in the stream to take off the dirt and blood, wrung them and came back with water cupped in his hands to try cleaning the leg a little before wrapping them up in the strips. He didn't want to come into contact but had no choice as Jimmy seemed too shook up to do anything useful. He wrapped the lower thigh and upper calf efficiently and knotted the strips together tightly enough so that it stays on, but loose enough so it doesn't cut off circulation. 

"Take his shirt off while I start a fire so he could dry off and we won't have to worry about hypothermia," ordered Spock as he went back to his clothing for the flint and steel and gathered up dry sticks. Jimmy nodded and struggled with Leonard's wet shirt while trying not to jostle him too much.

Spock came back beside them with a bunch of sticks and organized them to burn easier. He had also gotten some dry moss-like grass to catch fire with. They soon had a fair fire going. Jimmy then noticed the long gash down Spock's back that went down from Spock's left shoulder to his right hip.

"Spock! What happened to your back?"

Spock lifted an eyebrow as if he had always had the gash on his back and thought it strange that Jimmy didn't.

"While fighting the animal, it struck me with it's tail which seems to be meant to cut, much like a sword fish's nose," answered Spock.

"We should take care of your cut while Leonard's sleeping," suggested a worried Jimmy.

"I have already minimized blood flow to that area," said Spock quickly as Jimmy moved near him.

"Well, however you do that, if it's even possible, we're still going to need to clean that up. You don't know where that nasty animal has been with it's tail. It might get infected and I'm pretty sure you can't think away a mess," said Jimmy pointedly as he continued staring at Spock's back. Spock felt uncomfortable and squirmed mentally as he would try his hardest not to show anything to anyone of what he was feeling. He knew Jimmy was right about getting it cleaned up. Not even Vulcan bio-control could prevent an infection. It can only go so far.

Spock finally said, "I will go rinse my back for the time being, as we have no bowl at the moment to try heating up water which would be the best."

Jimmy seemed unsure as he lifted his eyes from Spock's back up to his face as Spock got up and asked, "Aren't you going to need help? I mean, you can't reach your back easily without someone's help."

"I can do without your help," Spock said a little icily as he strode to his discarded clothes and took them to the stream. He dunked them into the water and scrubbed them to rid his clothes of the grime he picked up from traveling and sleeping in them. 

Jimmy returned his gaze to the sleeping Leonard who seemed to have knitted his eyebrows together in pain.

_He must be able to feel his leg even in sleep,_ thought young Kirk. He looked up from Leonard to find Spock with his shirt twisted and grasping both ends with it behind his back from shoulder to hip, lightly bringing it up and down. He was scrubbing his back. _That has to be painful!_

Spock, meanwhile, was trying his best to put up pain-blocks to his back. He had yet to understand how to do it fully as he had not done this before. He still needed much training for his mental abilities for the pain-blocks and bio-control, not to mention other things. He gritted his teeth as he felt pain lance through his back, going through his weak pain-blocks. He would probably need stitches, but that was impossible at the moment because he didn't carry sewing needles with him. String he could get from yanking on his garb. 

He finished and washed his shirt again and climbed up the bank up next to the fire. He would NOT get a cold as well as an infection, if he could help it. Spock placed his clothing on some rocks near the fire to dry, but not too close that a stray spark could make it catch on fire when dry. He noticed Leonard's pained expression and looked up at Jimmy strangely.

"How long has he had that expression?" asked Spock, Jimmy feeling the Vulcan's piercing eyes on him.

"Since a few minutes ago. Why?" asked Jimmy, confusion written across his face.

Spock didn't answer. He studied Leonard for a moment and came to a decision.

"Wake up, Leonard," called Spock. "Wake up."

Leonard didn't even stir. The same pained face not twitching.

Jimmy had a questioning look, but thought it best to try to wake up Leonard, as Spock seemed to know what he was doing, "Hey, Leonard! Time to wake up, buddy!"

No movement.

Jimmy got worried. He got up and went to Leonard's side and started shaking him gently, "I said 'wake up,' Leonard! Can't you hear me? This isn't funny!"

Jimmy was starting to get frantic. Spock stopped Jimmy from shaking Leonard more violently as it could cause more damage to Leonard's leg and would be pointless, "Jimmy, stop."

Jimmy looked up at Spock. His eyes were burning a little as felt tears wanting to come up. _This is not the time!_ Jimmy thought to himself.

Spock was almost jolted from seeing and _feeling_ Jimmy's panic and swirling emotions. He walked to Leonard's other side and studied him. He started to get a slight queasy feeling in his stomach and quickly thought, _Vulcans do NOT get sick._

"Jimmy, will you please leave this area?" asked Spock. It was almost a command.

"What for? I need to help him!"

"I need to do something for which I require some privacy," he stated.

"Like what?" asked Jimmy, hotly.

_They are so quick to run to emotions,_ thought Spock with an inward sigh and said calmly, "I must meld with him."

AUTHOR'S Notes: First of all, I LOVE saying, "Author's Notes," it makes me feel sooo important. But anyways… Thanks Tenshi no Kaiou for the review, even if it was two words. I don't mind, because it let me know that there were people out there reading my fanfic. Since this is my last completed chapter it will push me more to write. I hope you all enjoyed what I've put up so far.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 6

"You _what?_" asked Jimmy.

Spock had explained the mind meld the best he could using words, as human words were inadequate for many of the Vulcan's psychological practices. He was getting impatient with the young Kirk as he had explained it as simply as possible, twice. A Vulcan child would have accepted it the first time. _But he is not Vulcan_, thought Spock.

"I must do this _now_, it will be more difficult if I wait to _re-explain_ the mind meld to you," said Spock, irritated by himself by not keeping his voice even this time.

Jimmy gave Spock a look and seemed to be about to argue with that, but then he glanced down at Leonard and knitted his eyebrows together and nodded.

Spock relaxed a little and then realized with a slight shock that he had been tense. He slipped on his emotionless mask before Jimmy had a chance to see anything. Jimmy looked up and gave Spock a pleading look that said, _Please help him_, and then walked to the woods to give Spock some privacy. 

Spock had been watching Jimmy's back until he disappeared into the woods then went to crouch down beside Leonard's left side and sat down cross-legged. He stared into the fire that was to Leonard's right, or in other words in front of Spock, to calm himself and to prepare. He had only mind melded twice in his life: the first time was when he was bonded with T'Pring, but that didn't really count since a wizened old High Priestess had done that, and the second time with his tutor that had started training him. A Vulcan boy normally would have had his first mind meld with his father, but Spock was not normal. Sarek has never offered and Spock thought he was not supposed to ask, since it's highly personal.

What Spock was about to attempt with Leonard would be a meld that would be deeper than what he had practiced with his tutor. Were the situation not grave, he would not even consider it an option.

Spock looked away from the fire and looked down at Leonard's pale face and decided that it was time. He lifted his long-fingered right hand up to Leonard's face and paused before he made contact. He closed his eyes for a moment and his face became determined. He spread his fingers into their proper position for the contact points. He then slowly brought his hand down onto Leonard's face lightly. At contact Spock jolted.

Just that slight contact surprised Spock, not because there was roiling emotions under the face, but because there wasn't. A total blank. This was cause for alarm. He placed his hand down on Leonard's face, checked the contact points and closed his eyes. He tried to probe Leonard's mind gently. He hesitated again, but continued again briefly afterwards. With great concentration he searched the labyrinth of Leonard's mind to find his essence. It was dark and light at the same time. Spock tried his best not to open "doors" to memories, since that would be an intrusion to ones privacy. But since Spock was so inexperienced he fumbled along the corridors known as Leonard's memories. Images drifted by of a cookie jar falling and breaking to reveal chocolate chip cookies on a kitchen floor Spock did not remember of. This scene faded to reveal a boy with floppy brown hair with small red spots all over him. Spock realized that it was a memory from Leonard looking into the bathroom mirror at himself around seven years old with chicken-pox. 

Spock was taken aback at the sight of chicken-pox and thought, _I thought that disease was extinct._ He waved it off and tried to search faster to avoid coming into any more contact with Leonard's memories. He sent out a call, hoping to get an answering call from Leonard. He looked into the distance around him. The mind can be hard to comprehend. There cannot be distance, but that is as close as to what this can be discribed as in physical terms. 

Spock thought he "saw" a faint glow and drifted to it. The glow felt familiar. He "touched" it and immediately felt fear so great that he snapped back. Images swirled around him of great big teeth, claws and a cold mind. A feral mind that was frightening because of the lack of emotions. Then in a swirling of black and sky-blue a red streak filled in and dimmed to black. Spock realized that this must have been the distorted version of the attack.

Spock was shaken, that animal somehow linked mentally with Leonard to make him easier prey. The end result was unconsciousness. Spock steeled himself as he reached out again towards the spot of light that must be Leonard. He did not withdraw this time but went deeper into the glow and thought out, _You no longer need to fear. You are safe, but that will change soon if you do not come out of hiding._

The glow had shrunk at first when Spock had touched it, but regained its size. This slightly encouraged Spock and he tried "speaking" again. _'Leonard, please proceed to stretch yourself out. Try to regain consciousness. You are putting yourself at more harm.'_ Spock received no response. He thought to himself for a moment, racking his brain on how to get a response, then thought out, _'Jimmy is worried about you.'_

The glow shuddered, seeming to rouse itself and got a little brighter. Its rays of light stretched out while Spock coached Leonard to awareness. Everything around Spock brightened to blindness until…

Spock's eyes snapped open and he withdrew his hand from Leonard's face, which was twitching. Then Leonard's eyes also snapped open and he grimaced.

"Oooohh," Leonard groaned. "Did that thing rip my face off?"

Spock's right eyebrow flew up past his bangs.

"DAMMIT! My leg's been torn to shreds an' the left side of my face must've too!" screeched Leonard as he reached up his left hand carefully to his face. When his hesitant fingers met unmarred flesh his face showed surprise. "Why ain't my face torn up? It feels like hell!"

Spock regained his composure and backed away from Leonard a couple steps and sat back down with a 'thump!' Mind melding proved to be draining.

"I mind melded with you," stated Spock with a raspy voice.

"Mind melded? Ya mean that Vulcan mental mumbo-jumbo?" asked Leonard, he couldn't seem to comprehend. "Are you saying that YOU were the one who brought me out of that nightmare? It was your head in mine?"

"I do not believe it physically possible-" Spock was cut off by…

"LEONARD! Are you alright? I was so worried about you! You wouldn't wake up and I thought you may have lost too much blood. But I knew you would pull through. Spock must've been a great help!" Jimmy said in a great rush. He plopped himself down in between Spock and Leonard and looked over Leonard critically. He flashed a smile of relief and looked back at Spock. Jimmy's happy face fell a little when he saw Spock. Spock was a little pale and face seemed drawn.

"Spock, are you alright?"

Spock nodded then keeled over. Luckily Spock was sitting so they didn't really have to worry about him injuring himself.

"What's wrong with Spock?" asked a once again nervous Jimmy.

"I wouldn't worry that much. He's just tired. Must have been from the mind meld," commented Leonard after he gave Spock a once over. It was times like this that he was especially glad that his father was a doctor. Otherwise he might have panicked.

Leonard frowned a little as he noticed that Spock was shirtless and thought he saw something green under Spock's back. He knew that Vulcans were uncomfortable with being touched, but he had to know. Besides, Spock was asleep.

When he turned Spock over he saw the long gash that went from shoulder to hip on Spock's back and gasped. The gash reminded Leonard of his own predicament and he looked at his leg.

"I'm gonna need to suture me and him. Do you have any needles?" asked Leonard. He highly doubted it. Why would a ten-year-old have any?

"No, I'm sorry that I don't have any needles. But I do have fishing hooks and line. Do you think you can use those?" Jimmy looked a little hopeful.

"Yes! We'll just hafta straiten the hooks out a little. Other than that, it should work. Pull them out," Leonard said eagerly. He had practiced a little suturing before. He has also seen his father do it many times before.

Jimmy went to look for some rocks so they could straiten the hooks out. He brought back a flat stone a little bigger than his palm and a couple of rounded rocks from near the bank of the stream. Leonard and Jimmy went to work and straitened out two of the hooks.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Thanks for the reviews everybody! Hi Doctor! I guess I'll be sending you the last paragraph and some of Chapter 7 soon. Any type of reviews are accepted, so please review. 


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 7

Spock's head pounded and felt fuzzy as he woke up. His eyes opened to slits and finally opened fully as his eyes got used to the light. He could tell it was early evening and that there was still a good three hours left of sunlight. He then noticed that he was on his side and that his shirt was tucked under his head. He slowly sat up and was unable to stop his hand from holding his head.

"So you finally decided to wake-up. How are you feeling?"

Spock slowly turns his head to the right to see a concerned Leonard gazing at him. Spock removes his hand from his head and tries to stand.

"Whoa! You're gonna make your cut worse if you move around too much. Besides, you need more rest, stay seated," ordered Leonard as he stretched out a hand to prevent Spock from getting up.

Spock sat back down, but leaned away from Leonard's hand. Seeing this, Leonard brought his hand back, but thought of what he's going to need to do.

"Spock, I noticed that cut on your back and it seems to me it needs to be stitched up," Leonard said slowly.

Spock looked up from the ground to Leonard's eyes with his shoulders hunched.

"Hey Spock! You're awake!" came a call. Spock's gaze turned from Leonard's eyes to look in front of him across the fire to see Jimmy bounding to them with something in his hands. Jimmy slowed down and walked around the fire to Leonard and said, "I was able to make a basket out of bark so we could use it as a bowl," Jimmy handed the bark bowl to Leonard and then looked over to Spock, "I had to use your knife to cut the bark, I'm sorry I used it without asking you, but you were asleep and I didn't want to wake you."

"It is alright. Under the circumstances there was no choice," replied Spock.

Jimmy smiled and then looked down at Leonard. "So, do you think it'll work?"

"Yah, you did pretty good work on it. We'll just have to see if it'll hold water."

Jimmy took the bowl back from Leonard and ran to the stream and dipped the bowl in. "Hey! It works!"

"Good," Leonard said with a satisfactory nod. "Now bring it here with some water in it. We'll need to wash Spock's back since he rolled back in the dirt."

Spock stiffened and looked at Leonard. "That will be unnecessary. I can wash myself."

"You can't reach your back easily and if you're thinkin' about using your shirt I'm tellin' ya right now that it's not clean enough. I know that you're a touch telepath or whatever, but you're gonna need to let me clean you up and sew up your back so nothin' can get in and give you an infection," Leonard said sternly giving Spock a hard look.

Spock knew that he was still stronger than both humans, even in his injured state, but could not come up with an argument that was logical to fend off Leonard. He shifted and knew that he had to surrender to Leonard, but knew it would be highly uncomfortable.

"Leonard?" 

"Hmmm?" answers Leonard with a quizzical expression and a lifted eyebrow.

"You may wash my back. However, I ask that you try to keep your emotions in check as I can feel everything you think and feel when you touch me," Spock responds quietly.

Leonard's face softens and he gives a nod to Spock. When Jimmy comes back with the bowl of water, Leonard takes it and grunts as he tries to move towards Spock.

"Hey Spock? Will you move over here? I can't exactly move since my leg's injured," explains Leonard as he gives Spock an abashed grin.

Spock lifts himself up and takes a couple steps and sits with his back to Leonard. Leonard gains a professional mask and pours some of the water onto Spock's back. He touches Spock's back and gently, but firmly rubs off the dirt. Spock tries to block the feel of Leonard's hand and to his surprise feels limited emotion coming from Leonard. _'So humans can control their emotions,'_ Spock thought to himself.

Leonard was efficiently cleaning Spock's back and poured more of the water to wash away the loosened dirt and finished. He quickly withdrew his hand so Spock doesn't have to bear his touch for the moment. He almost thought he heard a sign of relief escape Spock. _'Must be my imagination.'_

"Spock? I'm gonna need to stitch you up, so you may need to do some mental block. This might hurt a bit," Leonard's concerned voice said over Spock's shoulder.

Spock nodded and tried to prepare the best he can for the pain he knew would come.

Leonard took one of the straitened hooks and reached out to the fire to sterilized it. After what he thought was enough and also since the piece of metal was getting hot to the point of burning his fingers, he pulled back and let it cool down. He picked up some fishing line and pulled it threw the eye of his improvised needle. Jimmy was watching all of this intently about two feet away with his legs crossed.

"Okay, Spock. My father is a doctor, so I've seen this done a lot. I've also have sutured a couple animals before. So don't think I don't know what I'm doing," announced Leonard. "Okay, I'm gonna start stitching you up, so you may want to brace your self."

Spock couldn't stop himself from gritting his teeth when he felt the needle bite into his flesh and the tingle of the line being pulled threw. He was proud, though, that he was able to stop his hands from going into fists. Leonard was quickly and carefully stitching up both sides of the gash together and pulling them tight together and hoping he was doing okay. He had told the truth of having watched his dad giving his patients stitches and that he himself had done it on animals, but animal and humanoid skin was a little different.

Five minutes later Leonard was examining his work and smiled proudly to himself. "I'm done now," he announced.

Spock's back felt strange since it now had fishing line strung through it.

"What are you going to do about your leg?" asked Jimmy, who had been silent until now.

"I hadn't really thought about it, other than thinkin' I'll hafta sew myself up," Leonard said thoughtfully, then grimaced at the thought of all the pain he's going to go through since his leg is worse off than Spock's back. "There isn't a chance that one of you know how to sew? Suturing and sewing is similar, it's just that you can't tighten the string up too tight, or otherwise the skin will be puckered up."

"Well, Mom does a lot of cross-stitching. I watch her a bit sometimes and she taught me a little," volunteered Jimmy with a little blush. "Not that I plan to do any cross-stitching," he added defensively. 

"That would be fine. But boy, I wish I had some pain killers. Spock? I didn't hurt ya much did I?" asked Leonard with concerned eyes.

"No, you also controlled yourself admirably," added Spock stoically.

Both humans eyes widened, realizing that this was the first time Spock had complimented anyone.

They were silent for a moment and then Leonard coughed and said, "Thanks."

"I guess we should start unwrapping my leg," mumbled Leonard.

They set to work, carefully unwrapping Leonard's leg and washing it. It was still bleeding and Spock found his nose assailed by nauseous smells. When they all looked at Leonard's cleaned leg, they found that it was very messy and would take a LOT of stitches. The whole time while Jimmy and Leonard was cleaning the leg, Leonard tried to keep himself from screaming and felt a tremendous relief wash over him when they were done washing his leg. He found that he was sweating profusely from the pain. Then he remembered that it wasn't even halfway done with since they had yet to sew his leg up and he grimaced at the prospect.

"Um, Spock? You may want to clamp down on my leg so I won't thrash about while Jimmy's sewing up my leg," mumbled Leonard while he looked to the ground.

Spock gave a nod and asked Jimmy, "Are you ready to proceed?"

"Yes," answered Jimmy.

Spock took a firm hold of Leonard's left leg and Jimmy went to work.

About half an hour later Jimmy put in the last stitch and heaved a sigh of relief along with Leonard, who looked a bit pale. Spock removed his hands and washed up. 

Spock was a bit shaken since his contact with Leonard provided to let him feel every anguished internal scream and pain shot through nerves as Jimmy put stitches in Leonard's battered skin.

"Um, guys?" asked Jimmy timidly.

"Yes?" Leonard croaked.

"I'm a bit hungry and I know what we saw may want us to turn into vegetarians, but we finally have dead meat over there." Jimmy pointed at the blue alligator. "I'm pretty sure I could cut it up and we could cook the meat on some of these rocks if we stick it right by the fire."

Spock turned green, but knew his human companions would need the energy and that he won't stop them from eating the meat. He would not join them in the barbarous practice.

"You may use my knife, I need to look for food," Spock told them.

"You can eat with us too, you know. I meant all of us," said a confused Jimmy.

"I practice vegetarianism," stated Spock.

"Oh," both humans replied.

"I will be back shortly."

Spock did not want to be there when Jimmy cut up the animal, he knew he would become sick. He already was feeling a little dizzy with the close proximity to Leonard's blood. Spock walked a little ways into the forest and searched for what he hoped was edible berries and plants.

Jimmy, on the other hand, was cutting up the alligator already and had some thin slabs ready. He tried his best in cutting the pieces thin so they would be cooked thoroughly, because he didn't know what diseases there might be. As the meat started sizzling Spock returned with an armful of greens and proceeded washing them at the streams. He had smelled them carefully and took a bit of each in the forest and spit them out to see if there was any negative effect from them. It was risky, but he had to do it. Fortunately for him, all the plants he tried did not seem to be poisonous. But he also knew some poisons may take a day or two to let themselves known after they were in his system. If he was alright in the next couple of days, then they would know what plants would be edible and won't have to worry about starving.

Spock almost looked at the meat in disgust, but held himself in check. They needed to eat as he did and it wasn't his place to criticize another cultures eating habits. They ate their food quietly while Jimmy cooked a lot more meat than they could handle eating in a week, much less a day, on the explanation that they would need to have food ready for later and that it would rot without a refrigerator to keep the meat in. He was planning on letting it cook until there was no more moisture left in it.

Spock blanched at the smell of cooked animal and tried to keep his food in his stomach as they all drifted to sleep around the small fire. Waiting for tomorrow to plan what they were going to do.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I think I'm supposed to put disclaimers on my fanfics, but I always forget. Besides, I stuck one in the summary, but if that's not enough I do not own any of the Star Trek shows or anything affiliated with it, except for my Star Trek action figures… :-) This is intended for ALL chapters written and ones soon to be.

Thanks to Lady J and all those who have reviewed so far. Special thanks to The Doctor who gets me off my lazy butt to write more.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 8

Jimmy woke up when the early morning sun shined through his eyelids and blinked rapidly. He almost groaned and slumped back down from his attempt at sitting up. It was summer vacation back on Earth and he usually slept in late on the weekends, considering he had to help out on the small farm he lived on during the weekdays, summer vacation or not.

After last night his stomach had been content, finally, after a couple days of not eating anything from the fear that the berries may be poisonous. He lifted his head up from the ground and glanced around the little camp, taking note that his two companions were still asleep.

_'They must have tired out from all the excitement and blood loss,'_ thought Jimmy as he looked at the relaxed faces of the Vulcan and human boys. Spock was lying on his right side facing the place where they had the fire, which was now ash and partially burned sticks. His face was almost serene and looked as if he was pondering some deeper meaning. Leonard, on the other hand, was lying on his back and seemed to have a very faint smile on his lips with his arms by his sides.

_'Spock! I was so worried about you! Don't EVER do that again! You worry us every time you run off like that!' Amanda reprimanded._

'I apologize, Mother,' said a young Spock. He ran into his mother's arms and hugged her.

Sarek stood from the doorway of their home and gave a disapproving look to his son. Spock quickly let go of his mother and Amanda had a faint sorrowful look from having the hug cut short.

'Spock, do not run off. It leaves your mother worried and reflects poorly on yourself. Do not give in to emotional impulses,' Sarek seemed to say coldly. Amanda looked up at Sarek from her crouched position and gave him a slight, angry look. Spock was, after all, half human, half hers. She wanted Spock to be happy and be spoiled rotten like human children are in comparison to Vulcan children. But Sarek prevented that, Amanda had agreed to live on Vulcan and abide by Vulcan tradition. But Spock had not even voiced his opinion of either wanting to be a human or a Vulcan.

'Go to your room and continue your studies,' ordered Sarek.

Spock gave his father a nod and now had a solemn look on his little face.

Spock woke up and opened his eyes to the morning sunlight. It was about half an hour from when Jimmy awoke. Spock's muscles were stiff from sleeping on the ground and he was just about to stretch when his back angrily protested and reminded him of the day before. Spock, however, kept a calm face and stopped from stretching and instead sat up. His sharp eyes made a quick study of the area around them and found Leonard still sleeping, which made sense since he had lost so much more blood than Spock had. Spock also heard and saw that Jimmy was bathing in the stream, which didn't seem a bad idea to Spock.

To Spock's disdain, he found himself feeling tired still and a little weak. He had eaten the night before and got some sleep, but most of his night was spent dreaming memories of his younger self and gave him a restless night.

Spock finally stood up and took off his pants, leaving him in his underwear and walked to the stream. Jimmy noticed Spock and waved.

"Good morning, Spock!" said Jimmy cheerfully.

"Good morning," answered Spock with a nod. His mother had ingrained into him the use of pleasantries. Spock gingerly stepped into the stream until the water reached his waist. He then started methodically started cleaning himself in the water being careful with his back and how he moved his arms.

Jimmy finished his bath and had already started drying off and checked on Leonard. He saw that Leonard was still sleeping and now had a silly grin on his face that made Jimmy wonder what he was dreaming about.

At that moment Leonard was having a nice dream about a girl named Jocelyn. She was a girl at school that he had a crush on. And right now, in his dream, they were walking together, hand in hand, through a field and came to rest in the shade of a very large tree. He was admiring the way her light brown hair glittered gold from the few beams of sunlight that made it through the leaves of the tree and her dark blue eyes. Jocelyn had captured his icy blue eyes with her dark ones and they started slowly leaning towards each other when everything brightened and Leonard found himself groaning in disappointment.

Leonard felt a little disoriented and wondered where he was as his eyes opened. Then he remembered the events of the last three days.

"So, you're finally awake. I was wondering when you would," Jimmy told Leonard. "Were you having a good dream?"

Blood rushed to Leonard's face and he hoped to God that he didn't talk in his sleep.

"Uh, it was nothing," said Leonard, trying in vain to hide his blush. "So, uh, what's for breakfast?"

But Jimmy was not about to be put off and felt like poking at Leonard.

"C'mon! You were smiling like crazy. That can't be nothing. Besides, you're blushing!"

"You're talkin' like a madman," Leonard said defensively, now furiously blushing.

"See! You're still blushing!" Jimmy crowed. "What was the dream about? Was it about your GUURL friend?"

"I don't have a 'girlfriend'!" Leonard yelled, his face still burning.

Spock was walking out of the steam, disturbed from his peaceful bath from the racket the two human boys were making over "girlfriends". He almost permitted himself to sigh. Almost.

The trio were quietly eating around their stoked up fire, a startling change from the previous scene with two rowdy human boys and Spock getting nervous and wondering if he should sedate them both. Luckily it didn't come to that and they sat down to eat.

Leonard still had a slight blush, but this time it was accompanied by a smug grin. Jimmy was unusually quiet and had a faint red mark on part of his cheek and neck… where he had been smacked upside the head by Leonard. Spock was usually quiet anyway, but he worried if he should be worried about their behaviour. Vulcans didn't hit puberty until their twenties, but they learned anatomy in school along with xenobiology. He wondered if testosterone had a hand in the human boys' behaviour.

****

AUTHOR'S NOTES: As Visage had reminded me by saying that s/he hoped they were the third to write a review for me to post up my next chapter. Sorry for the delay because Midnight Dove was actually the third reviewer for Chapter 7. I'm having some writer's block so I'm sorry this chapter is short. Doctor, sorry I haven't gotten Chap 9 out yet, I'll figure something out.

Thanks to everyone for reviewing, it makes me get off my lazy butt faster to try to get the next chapter out sooner.

-Lea aka LSR_7


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

                After their brunch, the three came up with ideas and planned what they were to do. The result of this was them making containers out of tree bark and a travois. Through trial and error the three boys finally came up with respectable containers that could be used as back packs. They stitched up things together with the fiber stripped off from under the bark and wet them to make it easier to bend.

                The plan was to follow the stream down its path so that they would have a water supply and that if there were any people, they would most likely live near a source of water.

The sun was starting to set again so they stoked up the fire and finished up making equipment. They had fashioned wooden spears to protect themselves with. The two animals they have encountered already made them wary of their surroundings. 

                Jimmy started serving out dried out meat for himself and Leonard and then berries to all three of them, giving the larger portion to Spock to make up for the lack in meat.

                "So, y'already the rations officer, are ya?" Leonard said to Jimmy around a mouthful of berries.

                "Guess so," replied Jimmy as he studied his piece of meat, wishing fervently for some salt.

                The camp was blanketed in silence yet again, save for the crackle of the campfire and the sounds of nature.

                Spock felt the uncomfortable undercurrents of emotion from the other two boys. It spoke of silent longing. What was it?

                Jimmy was thinking back a couple days when this whole crazy thing happened. _'If I only let Sam help me, or better yet, if I only let that pole go.__ I wouldn't be away from my family and home,'_ Jimmy thought as he stared forlornly at the piece of dried meat in his hands. _'And I would also have salt.'_

                Leonard was also thinking along the same lines except with a certain blue-eyed girl in mind.

                Spock noticed that the humans seemed to be drowsy, perhaps a side effect of full stomachs, and told them, "I will watch our surroundings while both of you sleep."

                Leonard wasn't about to have any of that and retorted, "Like I'm gonna trust _you_ to stay awake when you're probably tired with your injury and all."

                "Vulcans have much more stamina than a mere human."

                "I'll show you what a 'mere human' can do!" Leonard grumbled as he pushed up a sleeve in a half-threatening gesture.

                "Guys, guys! We can just take turns! Right Spock? You didn't mean that you'd stay up all night right?" asked Jimmy in such a way that it left no room for argument if Spock had been the type to argue. Luckily for Jimmy, Spock would not lower himself to such a petty practice over guarding the small group.

                "Yes," Spock conceded.

                "There, that's all settled," Jimmy said happily.

                "Yah, so I'll be next after Spock. If you don't wake me up for my turn tonight there'll be hell to pay in the morning," McCoy said, glaring at the Vulcan boy with icy eyes not meant to intimidate seriously, more for show.

                Spock gave him a nod and settled back into a meditative state, relaxing each muscle in his body one at a time, using the flames of the fire as a focus point.

                "So you'll be waking me up after you're done, right?" asked the youngest boy to Leonard.

                "Sure, we're taking turns right? So you'll get your turn. We better turn in now if we want to get our sleep," the Georgian drawled, now tired that he had used energy bantering with the Vulcan. The boys stretched out on the piles of leaves they had collected for the use as bedding since they didn't have much else to do in the spare time they had left after crafting various containers. 

                _'Too bad we can't bring the leaves with us,'_ Jimmy absently thought as he drifted into sleep.

**Author's Notes:** It's been about 16 months since I last updated this story.  I apologize to all of those who liked this story and especially to those who had left reviews saying they liked it and wanted more.  I've been concentrating on my anime fanfic called "For Want of a Nail" (a continuation fic for Escaflowne) since I got pulled into the craze.

I lost some interest in Star Trek, I still have over fifty novels that I pick from to read from time to time, but I'm now geared more towards anime.  I just finished this new chapter a few days ago when I had nothing else to do.  I hope my floundering interest in Star Trek didn't show through in this chapter other than how late this came out.  I'm updating out of guilt and need to do something.  I hope to finish this story one day and revive my interest because I had several ideas for more Star Trek Original stories.


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